Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

Okay, pretty clear win. No rolls for this one, let's see how this goes.

"Why is it, when something happens, it is always you three?"
"Believe me, sir. I've been asking myself the same question for four years."
-Mayor Martin Smith and John


Your thoughts race as you consider your options. You don't know this Belle, but she did put herself at some risk to help you. It's clear the other Talons don't like her very much. Or that could have all been a ruse, trying to suss out who you are and what you want with the tent. Even if she was being honest, what sort of message would you need to deliver? To whom? Hopefully, any signs of worry on your face are simply being attributed to childish nerves rather than cold, manakete calculations (which is absolutely what you're doing. No fear at all.)

When Belle somehow makes the coin reappear and starts moving it back and forwards slightly, you find your eyes automatically following it. This, more than anything, helps you come to your decision. You have a role to play, and having seen what humans are willing to do for money, it would only make sense that Gwyn would accept.

"Okay, I'll do it," you say.

Belle smiles. "Good girl," she says before putting a hand on your shoulder and lowering her voice conspiratorially,. "So, here's what I need you to do. You see those woods over that way?" You glance over and nod: they're not close to either the town or the camp, but they're not far either. "Now, I have… some friends, shall we say, over there. They need a message from me, but I'm not allowed to leave the camp, since the other Talons don't like me very much. I assure you, it's all for a good cause."

You start to open your mouth to ask what she wants you to tell them, but she presses the tip of a finger to your lips. "Ah ah ah, sweetie, I'm not finished yet. Now, my friends are a little suspicious, so they'll only come out if you say some magic words. What you need to say is 'The stars listen.' Can you remember that?"

You frown; you know you look like a human child, but does she have to talk to you like you're stupid? "Yes," you say, perhaps a little more shortly than you should. "So when they come to talk to me, what do you want me to tell them?"

"Oh, you don't have to tell them anything," Belle says. "Just give them the note in your left pocket, next to your pet rock."

"My wh-" You blink as a horrifying thought crosses your mind. Your dragonstone is in that pocket, and as you shift experimentally you hear a faint crinkling noise that shouldn't have been there! "How-"

Grinning, Belle ruffles your hair. "Word of advice, kid: when someone touches you without your say-so, always take a second to check your pockets. It's a classic pickpocketing trick."

You fight back the urge to scream. If she'd put something into your pocket, she could easily have taken your dragonstone out. You would have realized almost immediately, especially if she tried to walk away with it, but the thought that she could have makes your skin crawl. Someone who's working with people who have done such terrible things, for whatever reason… that's not okay, you're not okay with this!

Something of your internal horror must have appeared on your face, as Belle's smile slowly fades. "Hey… Gwyn, I'm sorry," she says, taking her hands off you. "Look; I promise I didn't do anything bad, and I won't. I may not be the nicest person, but I'd never do anything hurt a kid." Maybe it's just you, but you think you see a faint flicker of anger cross her face as she says that.

Taking a deep breath, you nod, trying to master yourself. You're not Ryza: Yellow, lightning and magic. You're Gwyn, and you just got a little surprise. She wouldn't take what Belle did that badly. "Okay…" you force yourself to say. "So I just… go, give them the note, and leave?"

"That's right," Belle says, flipping you the coin. You scramble to catch it, clenching it in a slightly sweaty fist. "They'll probably give you a few more of those to help your daddy, but I can't promise that." She grimaces. "They… probably don't like me too much either." Shaking her head, she gives you a stern look. "Either way, don't tell anyone else about this, okay? At least not until you're safely out of town. It'll be our little secret, alright?"

You nod. You don't feel nearly as bad about lying to Belle as you did lying to Jace and his friends. She nearly touched your dragonstone without your consent. That's a big no-no. "Okay, I won't," you say.

Belle nods. "Alright, now get going, before Ubel decides to come out and interrogate you again." She gently nudges you down the path. "Act like you're going back into town, then split off when you're away from the camp."

Nodding, you start walking down the path, forcing yourself not to trot or run. You also force yourself not to immediately pull the note out and try to figure out what it says; surely its important information on how to get to Sypha. Still, best not to make Belle think that you're planning on going behind her back; she can still make a lot of trouble for you if she wants to.

However, as you continue down the road, the temptation finally becomes too much. Glancing around and not seeing the woman or any Talons about, you tug the note from your pocket and unroll it.

Frowning, you stare at the scribbles. Artemis and Robin have done their best to teach you, but after only a few days you've only mastered the runes themselves and a few simple words. Even to your untrained eye, however, you can tell something's off with the writing. Oh, the runes are correct, if shoddily written to the point where Father would have made you do them over again, but that's not what you notice. To be honest, you're not entirely sure what it is that seems wrong, just that something does.

"Pst! Girl!"

You jump slightly as you look around. There's some tall grass along the path that you just passed, and sticking out above it is John's head. A moment later, his arm and hand rise out to join his head as he beckons you over with a fierce frown on his face. You briefly consider just running: he's never seemed to like you and he doesn't look any happier with you now. However… you are worried about him and his friends, and maybe they have some useful information. Therefore, you hurry over after once again checking that you're not being watched. Thankfully it seems there's a pause in the number of people going either way.

As soon as you reach him, John grabs your wrist and jerks you down into the grass. He is not gentle about it. "Ow! That hurt!" you whine, trying to pull your arm out of his grasp. Sadly for you, in your heart-form you're not as strong as an equivalently-sized human, so he is able to keep his vice-like grip on you.

"What the void was that?!" he hisses at you. "You were supposed to keep the guards distracted!"

"I did!" you shoot back. "Let me go!" You don't want to zap him, but you will if he doesn't take his hands off you right now!

Thankfully, he doesn't push your patience, letting go of your aching wrist with a huff. "Then why did we get jumped almost as soon as Jace got started?" he growls.

You frown. "Hey, I did my best!" you say. "I kept talking to the two out front the whole time, even after they started threatening to hurt me! I thought it was your job to keep any others off him! If someone saw you it's not my fault!"

The two of you glare at each other for a few seconds before John finally looks away. "We thought we had every way covered," he mutters. "Jack and me were ready to keep them busy long enough for Jace to see what was going on. There must have been someone already near the tent that we didn't spot, and they must have heard something. If you're telling the truth."

"I am!" you insist. After a moment, you look around. You haven't seen or heard anything of the other two boys. "Are the others okay? Jace? Jack?"

John shakes his head. "Jace ran off. I'm pretty sure he made it out, but I can't be sure. He looked like he saw a shade, though. Doubt I'm gonna see him again for a week." His fist clenches. "Jack made himself a target. He made sure I got out by getting the Talons to chase him on purpose. I… I can't see him having made it out without them catching him."

Your blood runs cold as the memory of the massacre in the forests of Legerius flash behind your eyes. "I… Is there anything…"

John sits back, sighing. "I don't know," he says. "If they got him, he's still in there somewhere," he says. "I… I don't think they'd hurt him too bad: their boss made it clear that they were coming in peace and weren't going to do anything bad, but…"

'But that was before some of the town's children discovered their darkest secret,' you think grimly. "If they do hurt him… is there anything Glenhaven can do about it?" you ask worriedly.

John looks at you like you're insane. "The Talons are the biggest, strongest group outside the Imperial Army!" he says. "It's only because they're good guys that they aren't just taking whatever they want from us!"

The two of you sit in silence for a minute as you try to think. As much as you don't like the Talons, from the way you've seen them and the townsfolk interacting you get the feeling they aren't… completely monstrous. Maybe Jack will get off easy. Of course, this was all before he actively threatened their secret. You let out a hiss, you just don't know, and now you have someone else to worry about! You feel like you're moving backwards, not forwards!

It takes you a moment to realize that John is studying you strangely. "What?" you ask shortly.

"Okay, what's up with you?" he asks.

"…Huh?"

He frowns. "You're up to something. The others didn't notice. Jack's a big, dumb, friendly lug. Loves making new friends. Jace isn't thinking clearly since he thinks your cute." You feel yourself flush slightly, but John continues. "Me? I've been watching you, and you agreed to this all way too easily. Three strange boys asking you to go into a merc camp with them, a place that clearly makes you nervous? You agree. Then, when you're in, you're trying to figure out where everything is. Even things you shouldn't care about: why would you care where they keep their weapons." His eyes start to narrow. "Not to mention how you looked like you wanted to kill someone when you were listening to those archers. Archers saying something I couldn't hear over the babble."

You shrink back slightly. "I was just-"

John slaps a hand against the ground. "No! You are up to something. What's that you got in your hand?!" You realize you never put away the note from Belle. Before you can start trying to come up with an excuse, John makes a grab for your arm again. This time, you're quick enough and you scramble out of reach.

"What's going on, Gwyn?!"

What do you tell John?

[] Nothing. Dodge and deflect until he stops asking. Just leave if you have to. You don't want to get him further involved in this.
[] Don't tell him what you already knew, but let him know that one of the Talons saved you from Ubel and asked you to do a minor favor for her in return.
[] Be (mostly) open. Tell him that you already knew that there was a kidnapped girl in there, and that you needed to find out where the Talons were keeping her before anyone else got hurt.
[] Write-In

Assuming you're able to get the human boy off your back, you still need to figure out what you're going to do next.

[] Take the note to the people in the forest like Belle asked you too. As angry as you are that she touched your dragonstone, you don't think she's a bad person. Maybe her note will help you with your mission to rescue Sypha.
[] Take the note to Robin. Whatever's wrong with it, he'll have a better chance of being able to read it. Besides, you should let him know what's going on before he gets worried.
[] Go find Jace. He saw something, and you still don't know exactly what's going on in that tent. Besides, you might be able to calm him and John down a bit by talking things over with them.
[] Try to get Jack out. He probably won't be as guarded as Sypha, and maybe you can convince Belle to help you. She did say she didn't like bad things happen to children.
[] Write-in

AN: A pretty short chapter, I know, but I wanted to let you make some important choices.